Every morning Monday through Friday, I try to start my day praying in silence at Holy Martyrs Church. 

I find being silent and trying to clear my mind of distractions is a hard thing to do. My mind wanders here and there. If I close my eyes, I fight passing into sleep. I know being silent with the Lord can be a most meaningful prayer experience, yet it is a challenge.

I recently saw a comment on a blog that stated: “Silence can be God’s gift to us. Rest in God encouraged by the devotional verse, ‘Be still and know I am God’ (Psalm 46:10).”

In a book I have been reading, In Sinu Jesu: When Heart Speaks to Heart, which is a series of written passages of Jesus talking to a monk in his silence of his heart, the monk writes Jesus saying:

“…It is in silence that I speak to souls. Those who flee silence will not hear My voice. Encourage silence and practice it yourself with a renewed dedication, for it is silence that the Holy Spirit descends, and it is in silence that He works in souls, bringing them to holiness of life, and to the perfection that I desire for each one…a prayer made with sleepiness and distraction is no less pleasing to Me than one made in alertness. Your subjective dispositions do not impede the action of My grace in your soul. Learn then to trust in Me to do the things that you cannot do yourself, and allow Me to work in you secretly…” 

I like this reflection and find comfort in the psalm, “Be still and know that I am God”.

May God give us the grace to learn to pray better in silence and to listen to His response in our hearts.

The noun, rumination, means a deep considered thought about something.

-By Deacon Tom Gryzbek